[R-390] Flying with boatanchors

[Bill Levy]

First

ALL CHOCOLATE LOOKS LIKE PLASTIQUE. ALL OF IT. ALL THE TIME.
PUT IT IN HAND BAGGAGE. ITS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO ORDER CHOCOLATE FROM 
OVERSEAS ON THE WEB.

Since the thieves now employed by the TSA will use any excuse to go thru 
baggage we can put nothing but dirty underwear in our checked stuff. I carry 
radios, cameras, all my electronics in hand baggage. Better leave the 390's 
at home.

n2wl



William G. Levy
Capital Counsel LLC
350 Park Avenue, 11th floor
New York, NY 10022
Phone 212.350.4483
Fax: 212.202.5041
Cell: 914.645.4771
wglevy at capcounsel.com
wglevy at att.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sheldon Daitch" <sdaitch at ibb.gov>
Cc: "R-390 reflector" <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: [R-390] Flying with boatanchors


I recently went to Tokyo from the US and return, and I had in my briefcase a
Garmin GPS, a Bearcat scanner and a Sony portable SW receiver.  In the back 
pack
that was also carry-on, I had the Icom HT and charger, plus a camera and
external flash unit.  Airport inspections at Washington National (leaving) 
and
Tokyo Narita and Detroit (coming back) for the carry on items was basically
cursory, if it worked, it was fine.

The domestic free baggage allowances are normally two pieces up to 50 pounds
each, while most international flights in and out of the US are two pieces, 
70
pounds each.  The domestic limit was reduced about two years ago, from the 
same
70 pounds as international flights, probably to help pay for fuel, with the
charges for over weight.  .  (By the way, most of the rest of the world has 
much
smaller free baggage limits, ranging from 44 to 66 pounds, depending on the
class of the ticket.)  One of my checked bags was overweight by four pounds,
leaving Narita, but the check-in agent didn't notice it. I guess she figured 
if
I could pick it up, it wasn't overweight.

On the return leg headed home, neither of my checked bags were bothered, 
other
than x-ray, at Narita, but one case was re-inspected at Detroit (DTW).
Apparently some of the Japanese chocolate looks like a plastique item, per 
the
TSA inspector.

When I requested my film to be hand inspected, at DTW, they looked at the 
film
canisters and did the swap test.  By the way, that swab test is "looking" 
for
nitrogen compounds, the basic item in explosives.  We have some of the same
machines at our locations overseas, and one in particular gets false 
positives
all the time, from the nitrogen compounds released from fertilizers used by 
the
neighboring farmers.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

Agree on the baggage on the Asian flights.  The first few times I flew into
Manila, I realized how much the baggage pickup area looked more like the UPS
shipping dock than an airline carousel.

73
Sheldon
WA4MZZ



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